Robust $350 Billion Bush tax cut for rich passed 51-49 in Senate in 2003.

(10:00AM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)

Crossposted at daily kos

     Now that Sen. Schumer has called for a Public Option in health care reform or something like it, we have to make sure we get a Robust Public Option, and not just something like it.

     While you are calling and writing your congressional representatives, here is something to remind them of.

foxnews.com

Senate Narrowly Passes $350 Billion Tax Cut



Friday, May 16, 2003

WASHINGTON –  The Senate, in an attempt to revive a laggard economy, narrowly passed President Bush’s $350 billion package of tax cuts Thursday, which includes suspending all taxes on stock dividends for the next three years.



Passed on a 51-49 mostly party-line vote, the Republican bill is less than half the size Bush originally sought — but one that advances previously scheduled reductions in income-tax rates, provides $20 billion in new aid to state and local governments and raises taxes for a few.

    Somehow our Congress found the votes for this. Somehow they found the money for it too. Consider this your Democratic Talking Point for the day.

     First of all, , if you want to get involved and contact your Senator to support a Robust Public Option in Health Care reform, please check out the diaries posted by DKos users slinkerwink and nyceve which include contact information for President Obama’s WH and the Senate. Your calls and e-mails can make a huge impact. If you have a DKos account, I highly suggest you Recommend these diaries.

    Paul Krugman has already stated that Health Care reform will cost America less than the Bush tax cuts. Meanwhile, as a few Democratic Senators and the GOP wonder “where will we get the money for this?” that three year suspension of taxes on stock dividends is really, really getting on my nerves.

    If the Senate under the GOP could pass this unpopular bill by one vote that favored tax cuts to the rich than our Democrat controlled Senate should be able to pass meaningful health care reform with a robust public option in it.

    And if not now, then when?

    I would suggest repealing the Bush tax cuts immediately and using that money to pay for health care reform as well as other important programs, but that is a question for another day.  

    So, which current Democratic Senators voted for the $350 Billion dollar tax cut for the rich?

    No huge surprise there.

    Don’t forget that 48 Republicans voted for the Bush Tax cuts as well, many of whom are still serving in the Senate today. Just goes to show you, if you are a Republican, You Only Count If You Are Stinking Rich.

    Of course, anyone with sense knows the GOP modus operandi. Obstruct, obstruct, obstruct, but demand concessions anyway.

    We have to contact Harry Reid and remind him of this.

    We need to remind Reid how to control his caucus. You don’t start by asking the GOP what they want, you start by rounding up all your votes first. If you have 51 or more votes you pass whatever bill you want and that is that. At least, that is how the GOP used to do it. So, why can’t the Democrats do it?

    Why don’t you give Senators Bayh and Nelson a call today if you live in their states and ask them why they should be would give tax cuts to the rich but not health care reform to all Americans.

    Your Senators mailing address can be found here at www.senate.gov

h/t to slinkerwink for the contact info

These are the members of the HELP Committee to CALL today and thank them for pledging to vote the Senate HELP bill out of committee with a public option:

    Tom Harkin (IA): (202) 224-3254

   Barbara A. Mikulski (MD): (202) 224-4654

   Jeff Bingaman (NM): (202) 224-5521

   Patty Murray (WA: (202) 224-2621

   Jack Reed (RI): (202) 224-4642

   Bernard Sanders (I) (VT): (202) 224-5141

   Sherrod Brown (OH): (202) 224-2315

   Robert P. Casey, Jr. (PA): (202) 224-6324

   Kay Hagan (NC): (202) 224-6342

   Jeff Merkley (OR): (202) 224-3753

PLEASE CALL the Democratic Senators on the Senate Finance Committee to urge them to support a strong, robust Medicare-like public option instead of the Conrad co-op plan in their health care bill!

       Please CALL Senator Max Baucus at (202) 224-2651

       Please CALL Senator Olympia Snowe at (202) 224-5344

       Please CALL Senator Charles Schumer at 202-224-6542

       Please CALL Senator Edward Kennedy at (202) 224-4543

       Please CALL Senator John Rockefeller at (202) 224-6472

       Please CALL Senator Ron Wyden at (202) 224-5244

       Please CALL Senator Kent Conrad at (202) 224-2043

       Please CALL Senator Jeff Bingaman at (202) 224-5521

       Please CALL Senator John Kerry at (202) 224-2742

       Please CALL Senator Blanche Lincoln at 202-224-4843

       Please CALL Senator Debbie Stabenow at (202) 224-4822

       Please CALL Senator Maria Cantwell at 202-224-3441

       Please CALL Senator Bill Nelson at 202-224-5274

       Please CALL Senator Robert Menendez at 202-224-4744

       Please CALL Senator Thomas Carper at (202) 224-2441

    If you needed another example to help convince your Senator to do the right thing for all Americans, try this one on for size.

 A closely divided Senate yesterday voted in favor of opening Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, bringing a long-sought goal of the Bush administration within striking distance of being realized.



The action marks the first time the Senate has signaled its support for drilling in the ecologically sensitive area since President Bush took office. And while hurdles remain, drilling advocates said they are close to achieving their decades-long drive to tap billions of barrels of oil beneath the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain.

By 51 to 49, the Senate thwarted an attempt by most Democrats and some moderate Republicans to strip a provision on drilling in the refuge from the 2006 congressional budget resolution. By giving the drilling proposal the protection of the budget rules, GOP leaders have effectively prevented opponents from using a filibuster to block a final vote on the proposal.

WaPo

bold added by diarist

    I am glad my Senator Chuck Schumer has come out in favor of a public option in health care reform, and I hope more Senators do the same soon, but the issue is now how robust that plan will be, and in order to guarantee that there is real health care reform that covers everyone, we need to push our Senators towards what We The People demand.

   We should settle for nothing less than a Robust Public Option.

   Anything less is not real reform.